The Indians have agreed to sign Jon Garland to a minor league contract reports the AP (via ESPN). He will take his physical at the team's complex in Arizona next week. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and ESPN's Buster Olney reported that they were nearing a deal this morning (all Twitter links). Garland is an LSW Baseball client.
Garland, 32, made nine starts for the Dodgers to begin the 2011 season before having July surgery to clean out debris in his shoulder. Two weeks after the surgery, he said he told MLB.com's Ken Gurnick and AJ Cassavell that he expected to be ready for spring training…
"I was very satisfied with what the doctor said," said Garland. "He's upbeat. The labrum was almost pristine. The cuff was a little worse than he thought, but a lot of what he found was just scar tissue and bursitis. He shaved down the bone so things move smoothly. A layoff like this can only help the rest of my body."
The Indians added Derek Lowe and Kevin Slowey this offseason, with the latter likely battling for the fifth starter job with David Huff and Jeanmar Gomez, according to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. Roberto Hernandez Heredia (a.k.a. Fausto Carmona) who was previously penciled in, is an unknown due to false identity charges.
Prior to 2011, Garland had posted nine consecutive seasons of at least 190 regular season innings. He signed a team-friendly one-year, $5MM deal with the Dodgers in November of 2010. At that time it seemed likely to become a two-year, $13MM contract, as an $8MM option for 2012 was to vest with Garland's customary 190 innings. Now it seems the California native may wind up back in the AL Central, after spending the first eight seasons of his career with the White Sox.
The guy’s a has-been. I’d be shocked if he ever pitched another season in the majors with a sub-5 ERA.
Then he fits right in with the players that larry Dolan likes.
Didn’t sign him for a low ERA (though, considering he’s never thrown a sub-5 ERA season before and his surgery should return him to form, the idea that he’ll suddenly throw above 5 is a little absurd). He was signed to eat innings, which he does like a machine. He and Lowe both will probably throw 200 innings in the back of the rotation and protect Masterson and Tomlin ahead of them. This was a great signing. Garland fits perfectly in this rotation.
I think this’ll work. He’s a groundball pitcher that could eat some innings. Good back of the rotation guy like Lowe
It’s another block for some of the younger guys…
The “younger” guys all play for Colorado now. The Indians only have 2 prospects in their top ten that are SPs. One is 18 years old (Felix Sterling) and the other is Scott Barnes, who really reminds me of Jeremy Sowers (OY!) so who exactly is he blocking? Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping that Barnes steps it up and takes the 5th rotation spot, but this seems to be another low risk/high reward signing.
Garland can be a good man to have in the bottom end of the rotation. He eats up innings, when healthy. Before last season he’d never been on the DL.
LOL.This is like the eighties all over again for the Indians. Retreads.
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